The PO told me "it could probably use new plugs". Oh yeah, thats a sign. When a PO gives you a slightly veiled "Oh its not fabulous" it usually means its very serious, but he still wants you to pay for what he's selling. So one of the first things I did after getting it home was check out the ignition wires. As I pull the front wire off, about a teaspoon of rusty stuff comes out of the boot. Well that may be part of the reason it was running rough. So I replaced the plugs with NGK Irridiums from Cycle Gear (love the chicks at Cycle Gear BTW), and I get the Screamin Eagle fat ignition wires from the local Harley shop.
Now, a word on changing plugs. When you take a plug out, just realize that you have literally removed a "plug" and any crap hanging out around it may fall inside the business end of your engine. Since the area around my plug had just been doused with rusty powder, I took a moment & blew it out and wiped around the plug area. Then as I unscrewed the plug, I blew it out a bit more (thank you dust-off from Costco, because I'm too cheap to get an air compressor). Gapped the new plugs, put some anti-seize on the threads, and put them in. I've changed plugs on many cars before, but I've never bothered with a torque-wrench before. But since these little death traps are more sensitive, I used the torque wrench. I must say, the little clicky kind are very entertaining.
A word on replacing wires. The Screamin Eagle 10mm ignition wires are wider than the stock wires. This means the little wire loom cover thing from the old basically will not fit and you just won't be using one. You could probably get one that will fit, but part of the point is so people can see the wires. Of course, when you get your grubby little moose hooks all over them, the orange wires are then ugly. So either clean them after the install (kinda nerdy, and they'll just get dirty later), or make sure your hands are clean as you handle them. Also, it is no easy task to thread the wires through the little spaces that the stock wires went through. You have to pull off the boots to do it at all.
Looks pretty, and it may start up & run better, I can't really tell since I haven't driven it much, but it didn't make a profound difference. But the wires are orange, and they used to be black, and they say "Screamin Eagle" on them. Thats cool right?! Anyways.
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